Mortlake on the Schuylkill

A place for me to discuss recent book acquisitions, my academic and other writing, my reading of fiction and poetry, and my enjoyment of popular culture. About the name: John Dee (1527-1609) kept a considerable library at his home in Mortlake, Surrey on the outskirts of London.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

In Case You Were Wondering ...

Occasional Superheroine provides an insider's view on how DC made a fateful decision to redirect the Supergirl brand:

Of course, the whole crap with the current Supergirl started when Leonard Kirk was pulled off the book about 5 years ago and replaced with Ed Benes. Kirk's rendering of Supergirl, assisted by the very capable Robin Riggs, was one of the most realistic and yet attractive illustrations of a teenage girl I've ever seen in comics. There was never a sense of "exploitation" in his pencils -- just a sense of humanity and fun.

In contrast, Ed Benes's version of Supergirl was pure sex.

At the time, the book was going to be cancelled and frantic brainstorming went on as to how to revitalize the character's image. It was thought that Kirk's rendering was "too boring" and could not compete in an industry full of Witchblades, Fathoms, Lara Crofts, and the sexy Mutant-of-the-Week. The word was -- we need a hot new artist.

So this one idiot came up with a brilliant idea:

"Hey, you know that guy from 'Gen 13?' His stuff is really good, nice and sexy. Look at the body on Fairchild. Wow. Maybe we can use him?"

Based on this suggestion, Benes was put on the cancelled "Supergirl" as an experiment.

Sales went through the roof.

Supergirl was now one hot piece of ass. As were all the female characters in the book. Including the granny.

"Supergirl" was still cancelled, but based on the sales, a new path for the character was set.

And you know who came up with the idea of putting Ed Benes on "Supergirl?"

Though I haven't posted recently, I've been following the variousentriesaboutSupergirl with interest. The Occasional Superheroine's post is definitely worth reading in its entirety, (as is Shelly's reaction to it).

While this doesn'tsurpriseme in any way, seeing my suspicions about this matter confirmed has been a definite downer.